Author: admin@primenews

The Federal Trade Commission ruled in a final order and opinion Monday that TurboTax, the popular tax filing software, engaged in deceptive advertising and banned the company from advertising its services for free unless it is free for all customers. By running ads for “free” tax services that many customers were not qualified for, the tax filing software violated the FTC Act and deceived consumers, the agency said. The FTC had first sued Intuit, TurboTax’s owner, for its deceptive advertising in 2022. The FTC staff alleged most tax filers couldn’t use the company’s “free” services — “such as those who get a 1099 form…

Australia has publicly named and imposed cyber sanctions on a Russian hacker for his alleged role in a 2022 ransomware attack, in the country’s first use of the penalty. The attack stole sensitive personal data from 9.7 million customers of Medibank, one of Australia’s largest private health insurers: including names, dates of births, medical information and Medicare numbers. Some of these records were published on the dark web, according to Australian authorities. At the time, the Australian Federal Police said investigators knew the identity of the attackers but declined to name them. On Tuesday, the Australian government revealed the name of the…

A gunman suspected of killing eight people in the city of Joliet, Illinois, has died after a confrontation with law enforcement officials, police say. Police in Joliet said Romeo Nance, 23, is believed to have fatally shot himself after the confrontation near Natalia, Texas. He is suspected of killing eight people at multiple locations in Joliet. Seven of the victims were found in two nearby houses by police on Monday. The eighth was found earlier on Sunday. The discovery of the bodies sparked a manhunt for the suspect, who authorities warned “should be regarded as armed and dangerous”. In a…

Australia’s former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced he will quit parliament to join the private sector. Mr Morrison, a conservative who was first elected in 2007, was the country’s leader from 2018 to 2022. He oversaw Australia’s pandemic response, the Aukus defence pact, and was embroiled in a historic scandal for secretly appointing himself to several ministerial positions while PM. “The time has come for me to return to private life,” he said on Tuesday. “After having served in the parliament for more than sixteen years, including almost four as Prime Minister during a very challenging time for our…

Sony’s Indian arm has scrapped a planned merger with Zee Entertainment which would have formed one of India’s largest entertainment groups. The $10bn merger, first announced two years ago, was set to combine more than 75 television channels, film assets and two streaming platforms. Sony said merger conditions had not been met, but there have been reports of a disagreement over leadership. In response, Zee said it could take legal action against Sony. The closing date for the deal had been set as 20 January, but Sony said this was not met “as, among other things, the closing conditions to the merger…

Japan may yet manage to salvage its Moon lander, the country’s space agency Jaxa says – if sunlight hits it in the right place. The Slim spacecraft was turned off just three hours after its historic lunar touchdown on Saturday to save power. Engineers had realised its solar cells were pointing west, away from the Sun, and could not generate electricity. But the mission team is now hopeful the situation could improve as lighting conditions shift. “If sunlight hits the Moon from the west in the future, we believe there’s a possibility of power generation, and we’re currently preparing for…

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has funded politically-motivated assassinations in Yemen, a BBC investigation has found, exacerbating a conflict involving the Yemeni government and warring factions which has recently returned to the international spotlight following attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Counter-terrorism training provided by American mercenaries to Emirati officers in Yemen has been used to train locals who can work under a lower profile – sparking a major uptick in political assassinations, a whistleblower told BBC Arabic Investigations. The BBC has also found that despite the American mercenaries’ stated aim to eliminate the jihadist groups al-Qaeda and Islamic…

Tencent Holdings’ Riot Games has said it will cut 530 jobs which account for about 11% of its global workforce. In a letter to its staff, CEO Dylan Jadeja said “our costs have grown to the point where they’re unsustainable”. Los Angeles-based Riot said teams outside of core development will see the largest impact from layoffs. The online gaming company says it will focus on its portfolio of live games such as League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, and Wild Rift. Riot Games is the latest to cut jobs in the gaming industry. Last year, Amazon and TikTok owner ByteDance both downsized…

Nominations for the 2024 Oscars will be announced later, after a huge year for cinema which saw Barbie and Oppenheimer dominate the box office. Poor Things, The Holdovers and Killers of the Flower Moon are also expected to feature heavily when the nominations are announced from 13:30 GMT. Cillian Murphy, Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr and Da’Vine Joy Randolph are all likely to score acting nominations. Jimmy Kimmel will host this year’s ceremony from Los Angeles on 10 March. The Barbenheimer phenomenon, a viral trend which saw thousands of fans book tickets to see both films on the same day…

A Russian man has been named and sanctioned for his role in Australia’s worst data breach. The personal information of 9.7m Australians was stolen from the country’s largest health insurer, Medibank, in late 2022. Sensitive documents, including abortion records, were then posted online. The cyber sanctions – the first of their kind in Australia – include financial penalties and a travel ban for Aleksandr Ermakov. Little has been made public about Mr Ermakov, but Australian intelligence authorities say he is part of the infamous Russian cyber-crime gang REvil – which has been linked to attacks across Europe, the US and…